L-Acoustics brings ultimate sound experience to Sleeping Beauty Dreams posted: 10/04/2020 The futuristic score by NOISIA's Thijs de Vlieger was presented in L-ISA Immersive Hyperreal Sound technology, with every movement of The Princess, performed by celebrated dancer Diana Vishneva, tracked in real time with BlackTrax motion tracking.
Technological feat brought to life with L-ISA Immersive Hyperreal Sound technology
Sleeping Beauty Dreams is a revolutionary fusion of contemporary dance, real-time digital avatar technology and hypnotic electronic music. Based on the Grimm Brothers fairy tale, the spectacular production explores The Princess's - often haunting - dreams, passions and temptations during her hundred-year slumber. Sound and movement achieved stunning cohesion as NOISIA's Thijs de Vlieger's futuristic score was presented in L-ISA Immersive Hyperreal Sound technology, with every movement of The Princess, performed by celebrated dancer Diana Vishneva, tracked in real time with BlackTrax motion tracking.
To supply the L-ISA technology, Magic Reality Group (MRG) chose Claire Global for the US tour, and one of Russias largest and most established rental companies, Euroshow, as sound provider.
The avant-garde rendition of the classic tale of Sleeping Beauty is a revolutionary theatrical production. Conceived by Miami-based Magic Reality Group (MRG), Sleeping Beauty Dreams (SBD) combines visual art, contemporary dance and cutting-edge avatar-mapping projection, set to an immersive sound of harsh and, at times, darkly ambient electronic music, to create a unique multi-dimensional scenic experience.
To achieve this, L-ISA partner BlackTrax real-time motion tracking was used throughout the entire production of SBD in innovative and profound ways by perfectly synchronizing lighting and audio elements, giving precise responses from each and offering complete coverage to the stage and freedom of movement for Vishneva. Additional to its role in tracking for lighting, BlackTrax was also integrated with L-Acoustics L-ISA, which received positional data from BlackTrax to connect visual and audio imaging to deliver a fully immerse experience to the audience. The live content was generated by using Perception Neuron system, to track dancer's graceful movements via 17 inertial sensors attached to Vishneva's costume, mapping her movements to giant digital avatars gliding across a large screen just as Prima Ballerina did on the stage floor. The integration of both technologies was done by the Fuse team. The whole show was centred around Vishneva, who, even during one of the most beautiful moments in the production where she dances with her Prince, played by Marijn Rademaker, was the only dancer wearing a motion costume.
MRG chose Euroshow as sound provider for the Russian leg of the tour and Clair Global in the US. One of Russias largest and most established rental companies, St. Petersburg-based Euroshow worked on deploying L-ISA technology across nine shows in eight Russian cities between 14th of September and 6th of October last year. Andrey Akhromeev, a freelance engineer, was in charge of designing and tuning the sound system according to L-ISA design rules and adapting it to the different venues. He also programmed the playback system, which was running L-ISA control plug-ins.
L-ISA technology by L-Acoustics was deployed for the first time in the Russian touring market by Euroshow.
Akhromeev joined the tour during the early period of the Russian leg, about a month before rehearsals in St. Petersburg. The desire to use L-ISA technology was there from the very beginning, with the previous production manager introducing the system to the creative team and assistance being provided by Dave Brooks and Carlos Mosquera of L-Acoustics, he says.
To complement De Vlieger's atmospheric, industrial soundscape, Akhromeev chose to deploy a fully immersive sound configuration, with a frontal system that was enhanced by surround sources positioned along the side walls. With the show predominantly playing in theatres, finding rigging points in the proscenium and designing a system that could be flown behind the proscenium line was a challenge for the team. Akhromeev leaned heavily on L-Acoustics Soundvision to model the venues, design and test the configuration. For this, he worked closely with Euroshow's system tech, Arthur Vitkalov, who helped to render the venue sites. They received additional support from Sherif El Barbari, Director of L-ISA Labs, for the initial system design stage during the rehearsals and the first shows.
The final system comprised five hangs of Kara spread across the front of the stage, with between eight and 14 elements per hang, depending on the venue configuration. Six to eight KS28 subs were flown beside the centre Kara hang.
The final L-ISA configuration comprised five hangs of Kara spread across the front of the stage, with between eight and 14 elements per hang, depending on the venue configuration. Six to eight KS28 subs were flown beside the centre Kara hang.
Placing subs beside the centre hang has become standard in theatre-type venues due to limited options for rigging points, explains Akhromeev. Normally, there are no rigging points capable of bearing heavy weights in front of the proscenium. Because of that, the team had to fly the main truss, which was holding the whole frontal system just behind the red line (fire curtain). At the same time, we had to keep in mind lighting and video fixtures that also required space, so they could reach the right points on stage. For that reason, flying subs beside the centre hang was the most viable option for us.
Between 10 and 18 X8 cabinets were used for the surround system, located along the walls on speaker stands, with the additional option of hanging them using special brac
